It wasn't a spectacular night for Nash as he finished with nine assists and six points, just two points above his season low, in only 24 minutes. It was a far cry from his last game Wednesday, when he made 13 of 16 shots to score 30 points with 10 assists against New Orleans.

Kyle Lowry, his Rockets counterpart, was more of a facilitator as well, with nine assists, eight rebounds and only five points. But Lowry knows any win over a Nash-led squad is an accomplishment.

"I love playing against Steve Nash," Lowry said. "I've been a big fan for a long time. He's a guy every point guard stole something from. Every point guard who's good in the NBA or who's a point guard took something from Steve Nash's game, the pocket pass, the behind-the-back pass, the floater, everything."

Be like Steve

You know you've got game when players like Lowry, who is just a shade below the league's elite playmakers, want to be like you.

"It's a great compliment," Nash said. "I admire all these young guards in this league, and I'm incredibly impressed by them. The point guard position is at an all-time high as far as talent and depth. I would never give myself that type of credit, but if I had anything to do with what those guys do, it's definitely a huge compliment.

"I don't feel like you can copyright things in the game, so I don't really feel like something I do that someone else does that I patented it and he got it. I would never give myself that much due."

But he deserves much due. Nash isn't quite as quick as he once was, but by no means is he slow. And Nash, who led the league in assists in five of the previous seven seasons, again leads the NBA in assists at 9.9 per game.

That is even more impressive this season, considering only two Suns players average more than 10 points per game.

There should be a special award for anyone who leads the league in assists with Jared Dudley as his team's third-leading scorer

Phoenix coach Alvin Gentry said Nash could be averaging 15 assists per game if the Suns didn't miss so many of the shots he sets up.

His teammates, who cost him several assists Friday with wayward attempts from the floor, don't doubt it.

"It's unbelievable playing with a guy who knows the game so well, the highest basketball IQ I have ever seen," rookie Markieff Morris said. "He controls the game."

Production still there

And he has done it for a long time. Kidd (9.1 assists in 2009-10) is the only other player in history over the age of 35 to average more than nine assists per game for a season. Nash has done that in each of the past two years and is almost certain to do it again this season.

"I feel like nothing much has changed in the last 7½ years in Phoenix," Nash said. "I've had a few ups and downs, a coaching change and a few injuries, where maybe my play dropped but otherwise I feel like the same guy."

His shooting is on point - he is fifth in the NBA in shooting accuracy at a ridiculous 59.9 percent, which would be a career best. And that says something.

Nash is one of five players to shoot 50 percent from the floor, 40 percent from 3-point range and 90 percent from the free-throw line in a season. Larry Bird is the only other one to have done it twice. Nash has done it four times.

Nash was drafted 15th by the Suns in 1996, but after two seasons was traded to Dallas where he played for six seasons before returning to Phoenix. The two point guards chosen before him - Allen Iverson (No. 1) and Stephon Marbury (fourth) - are no longer in the league.

But despite the excellence, the talk around the league tends to center on the youngsters.

"I'm still confident in what I can do," Nash said. "I don't necessarily need any more adulation than I have been given. I'm going to keep doing what I do and I'm happy for these young guys getting their respect as well."